Tag Archives: Psychology

Losing Consumers’ Trust

Posted on February 24, 2008 by John Hunter

Last week their was a recall of 143 million pounds of beef in the USA. Lets take a short systemic view at what is going on. The public has an interest in a safe food supply which is difficult to … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics, Management, Psychology, Science, Systems thinking | Tagged Customer focus, export, food, government, health, Psychology, regulation, safety, Systems thinking, trade | 5 Comments

What Motivates Programmers?

Posted on February 22, 2008 by John Hunter

A fun read on What motivates programmers? I will start with a question, if you have a spare £400 in your development budget do you A) Reward your star programmer with a £400 bonus or B) Buy him a 24 … Continue reading →

Posted in IT, Management, Psychology | Tagged Psychology, respect for people | 5 Comments

Arbitrary Rules Don’t Work

Posted on November 28, 2007 by John Hunter

Procedurally Enforcing Workflow by Michael Salamon: UI gem, and a great reminder for the RIAA/MPAA: You can’t force people to follow directions they deem arbitrary. I bet if that gate spit out $100 bills people would use it. Why matters. … Continue reading →

Posted in Lean thinking, Management, Popular, Process improvement, Psychology, Respect | Tagged Lean thinking, Psychology, respect for people | 1 Comment

Joy in Work – Software Development

Posted on November 25, 2007 by John Hunter

The wonderful cartoon in this link illustrates the all too common despair in work. Software programmers are more likely to really enjoy what they do. There are many reasons for this not the least of which is that they have … Continue reading →

Posted in Deming, IT, Management, Psychology, Software Development | Tagged John Hunter, Joy in Work, programming, Psychology, Ruby, Software Development | 11 Comments

Respect for People – Understanding Psychology

Posted on July 13, 2007 by John Hunter

Process improvement tools offer great resources to improve results. Dr. Deming included understanding psychology as one of the 4 areas of his management system. He understood organizations where not machines but systems made up of people. Therefore management needs to … Continue reading →

Posted in Management, Process improvement, Psychology, Respect | Tagged build capability, long term thinking, management, management system, Process improvement, Psychology, respect for people | 6 Comments

How to Get Ahead

Posted on June 27, 2007 by John Hunter

Deep Thinkers Need Not Apply: How To Get Ahead In the Modern Business World [the broken link has been removed – when will sites be managed with the known wise practices from 1998 (web addresses need to live forever)?]: Fast … Continue reading →

Posted in Career, Management, Performance Appraisal, Psychology | Tagged managing people, Psychology | Comments Off

People are Our Most Important Asset

Posted on June 18, 2007 by John Hunter

One of the beliefs I try and get the organizations I work for to adopt is to truly value excellent people. The costs are challenges of hiring great people, to me, makes it critical to do what you can to … Continue reading →

Posted in Creativity, Deming, Management, Performance Appraisal, Psychology, Respect | Tagged coaching, Creativity, curiouscat, John Hunter, Management, managing people, Psychology, respect for people | 9 Comments

Continuous, Constructive Feedback

Posted on June 7, 2007 by John Hunter

Employee performance: Continuous, constructive feedback yields results [the broken link was removed]: Be specific. If you simply say “Good job, Frank,” Frank won’t know exactly what he did to get that atta boy. Therefore, he can’t consciously work to repeat … Continue reading →

Posted in Management, Performance Appraisal, Psychology, Respect | Tagged managing people, Performance Appraisal, Psychology | 4 Comments

Predicting Improves Learning

Posted on May 10, 2007 by John Hunter

The Power of Prediction by Jared Spool: By asking these questions up front, we give the team members something to focus on. When a participant gets stuck somewhere they predicted, it stands out. They can take pleasure in knowing they … Continue reading →

Posted in Deming, Management, Psychology, Software Development | Tagged learning, Psychology | Comments Off

Be Careful What You Measure

Posted on May 9, 2007 by John Hunter

Be Careful What You Measure by Mike Wroblewski: Although this recalculation of productivity had a positive affect, it is not what I would consider a triumph. Ongoing efforts are still required to truly increase productivity, so it’s back to gemba. … Continue reading →

Posted in Data, Deming, Management, Process improvement, Psychology | Tagged Data, organization as a system, Psychology | 6 Comments